The jazz clarinettist and bandleader Terry Lightfoot, who has died aged 77 from prostate cancer, fell for traditional jazz early on, forming his first band, the Wood Green Stompers, when he was 17. He stayed true to the band's freewheeling ensemble style until the end. Along the way, he occupied much the same territory as his fellow bandleaders Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball, employing excellent musicians, the accent in his stage presentations on cheerful enjoyment of the music. "I like to think I've got a band which can present itself so as to get the music across to a broad public," he said. While never reaching the commanding heights of jazz creativity, Lightfoot's bands were always popular and easy to admire, moving seamlessly from the smoky clubs of his youth into the nation's TV studios and then to cabaret venues and concert halls around the world.

Lightfoot was born in Potters Bar (then in Middlesex, now in Hertfordshire). His first musical experience was as a boy songster in a junior variety troupe. There were also piano lessons and attempts at the cornet with the town band before jazz took hold and he moved to clarinet to fill a hole in the Enfield grammar school jazz band. Self-taught but enthusiastic, he prospered and formed his Stompers, while working briefly on a local newspaper and then in accounting. Good enough to act as support to the bands of Chris Barber and Humphrey Lyttelton at the Wood Green jazz club, north London, the Stompers achieved their apogee at the Conway Hall in central London on a bill that included Lyttelton and the vocal belter Sophie Tucker.

Following national service in the RAF, he formed his Jazzmen in 1955, turning professional two years later. The Jazzmen's drummer, Ginger Baker, was later to achieve greater fame with Cream. Attracting widespread praise for their well-turned traditional style and tapping into the emerging "trad" boom, Lightfoot's band – now including Ball on trumpet – toured with the skiffle star Lonnie Donegan, US country singer Slim Whitman and some then prominent "beat" groups, including the Who. In 1959, there was added recognition when they opened for New Orleans trombonist Kid Ory on his UK concert tour. Then came their inclusion in Richard Lester's spirited 1962 movie It's Trad, Dad!, the band's featured number Tavern in the Town gaining a chart entry, one of several Lightfoot tunes to become a minor hit.

With success came more success, the band appearing at the Beaulieu jazz festival, Hampshire, in 1961 and enjoying residencies on top BBC radio shows such as Easybeat, Saturday Club and Sunday Break. Later there were many TV appearances including six seasons of the Morecambe and Wise Show and Des O'Connor's first series. In what was an immensely productive period for Lightfoot, the band toured regularly with visiting American jazz artists, recorded often and earned a much-prized role in 1965 as support band for the Louis Armstrong All-Stars UK tour.

"Jazzed out" after 10 years of continuous touring, Lightfoot and his wife, Iris, then ran a pub for a year. Back in music, he joined Ball's hugely popular band as clarinettist, touring the world. Newly enthused, Lightfoot re-formed his band, which carried on much as it had before, with many overseas visits, often to military camps, their mix of bright, accessible jazz, comedy vocals and down-home fun as attractive as ever. In 1978, Lightfoot took over the Three Horseshoes pub in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, calling in favours from his many friends and promoting live jazz at the venue for some five years before again responding to the call of the road.

Thereafter, Lightfoot concentrated on themed concert presentations billed as The Special Magic of Louis Armstrong or From Bourbon Street to Broadway. As ever, his sidemen were of the highest calibre, most notably the trumpeter Ian Hunter-Randall – a Lightfoot man for 25 years – and the trombonists Ian Bateman and Roy Williams, with Lightfoot adding alto and soprano saxophones to his more usual clarinet. Recent shows had included his daughter Melinda Lightfoot as the band's featured singer.

Lightfoot is survived by Iris and their daughters, Melinda and Michelle.

• Terence Lightfoot, jazz clarinettist and bandleader, born 21 May 1935; died 15 March 2013